September 4 – “Road Trip”

And as the clearing out came to an end, the elaborate undertaking of rebuilding virtually from scratch began.  Fortunately (though the Queen would more certainly attribute good fortune to the graces of the Great One Who Rules Even Queens), a good Friend, well-known on the Island for the quality of his work and the trustworthiness of his character, stepped forth to offer his renowned assistance.  He and the Queen spent hours together mapping out a plan for each room, shoring up a wall here, removing completely a wall there.  "More space in here for cooking."  "Fine cabinets of precious wood over there."  "Return this to its rightful spot, for it survived."  "Bring in something new over there."  "Nay.  This work is not fit for a castle such as this.  It must be redone."  "Ah.  Fine craftsmanship."    Last night Mom and I were just settling in, watching a little TV and waiting for the Astros game to start.  It's not always easy for me to find a comfortable spot in the evenings.  I have to wiggle and squirm until I can find that one place on the couch, with my legs propped up on the coffee table, where I can concentrate on something other than the nagging ache in at least some of my joints, which by that time usually includes my knees and elbows.  I had just found the spot.  I could feel myself easing down into the soft cushions.  I could sense my muscles beginning to relax.  My mind was beginning to shift out of overdrive and into Astros mode, when I heard it.   I wasn't sure at first.  It didn't match the usual run of conversation on a Friday evening.  It wasn't something I could remember hearing in … maybe ever.  No, wait.  I do recall.  Way back.  Long, long ago.  I was a small child.  The words then were dreaded, evil, adult words that made absolutely no sense to my "what else would anyone want to do but go outside and play baseball" mind.    Was this real?  Did I really just hear those words again?  Did she really just say, "Let's take a ride"?  I looked at her carefully, kind of waiting to see if she said it or if maybe it had come from a character on the lead-in show to the game.  But no.  She turned to me as well with a look of anticipation, kind of mixed with a hint of apology.  "Can we just get in the car and take a ride somewhere?"   There it was.  She said it for real.  Now, honestly, my first idea of "just take a ride" flashed me back to those "take a ride" days when I was a kid.  Back then it usually meant pack up the car and drive for an hour to Spring, sit around and watch the adults talk until we could sneak out with our cousins and do something out-in-the-country-ish.  Then drive another hour back home.  I never could understand something about those trips.  It really seemed to my Mom and Dad and Grandmother like the drive itself was a really great part of the experience.  How could that be?  The important thing was getting there, wasn't it?  The drive was just something you had to endure.    Endure.  That's what I had in my mind when I asked, just to make sure, "Where do you want to go?"  That, of course, was irrelevant to her.  She didn't want "to go" anywhere.  She just wanted to take a ride.  So we took a ride.  I drove up and down each of the four streets in our neighborhood about 20 miles per hour.  She wanted to drive down one last street, then turn on S Road and head back home.  But she had the roads kind of mixed up, so we had to drive down S Road to get to the one last street.  We made it back, though.  The whole experience took about ten minutes.  And she was fine after that.  A road trip.  That's all she wanted.   Proverbs 10:1 says, "A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son grief to his mother."   Father, help me be wise.  Amen.